County officials can’t decide which route a massive gas pipeline
takes through the area or prevent its construction, but it can have
an impact on safety, Colquitt County officials heard Monday.

Federal law trumps those of the state and county ordinances, so if
federal officials grant a permit for a pipeline route there is
little to be gained from opposing it, County Attorney Lester
Castellow said.

9. However, federal preemption does not necessarily mean that the
Commission will not elect to require PacifiCorp to comply with those
of the Counties’ requirements that the Commission concludes will not
interfere with the company’s ability to carry out the Commission’s
orders. It only establishes that it is within the Commission’s sole
discretion to determine the extent to which such compliance will be
required.9
That is, the Counties may be permitted to exert
regulatory authority to the degree that the Commission allows.

10. Those general propositions aside, we cannot, at this stage of
the proceeding, state with certainty what local requirements may be
included in, or precluded by, our future orders. Under the
settlement agreement, PacifiCorp proposed, under certain conditions,
to comply with state and local ordinances, and the Counties have
noted particular local ordinances which they maintain should
apply.10 To determine in a declaratory order which, if any, local
requirements we will or will not require the licensee to fulfill
would be to prejudge issues that may come before us in the future.
Therefore, to the degree that PacifiCorp is seeking assurance that
the Commission’s order will not require compliance with any of the
Counties’ ordinances, we cannot do so here.

So according to FERC,
if a local government opposes or attempts to regulate a pipeline,
FERC can choose to let that stand.
If a county does nothing, FERC has nothing to decide.

Back to the Moultrie Observer:

The county also cannot impact the project through
either safety or zoning ordinances, which would almost invariably be
voided if the county is taken to court.

That doesn’t mean that the county has no role to play, Castellow
added, and the more involved county officials are in the process the
more local concerns are likely to be addressed.

“The regulations in place now give us the opportunity to give
input, and that’s what we need to do,” said Castellow, who
gave Colquitt County Commission a report during a Monday afternoon
work session on the research he has done over the last month.

As the biggest agricultural-production county in the state, Colquitt
County has specific concerns related to that industry, specifically
interfering with irrigation pipes, he said. The county’s Roads and
Bridges Department also has an interest in making sure a natural gas
pipeline is buried deep enough at points where it crosses under
roads and drainage ditches. So for locations where farms and roads
are in the pipeline equation, making sure it is buried deep enough
is important.

So do something!

The Federal Energy Commission, which must approve the route, is
scheduled to hold scoping hearings in early March, which will be the
county’s first opportunity to address local concerns.

Wrong. The county could have been filing comments with FERC for months.

As Castelow himself added:

“There’s going to be an opportunity, and if you don’t take
advantage you lose it.”

When will local governments stop making excuses and stand up
for their citizens?

The commission plans to appoint a committee made up of
commissioners, county safety officials, farmers and perhaps other
members of the public who oppose the pipeline, to make
recommendations and monitor the process.

“We may not be able to stop this, but we have the opportunity
to make this as safe as we can for all of our citizens,”
Commissioner Ray Saunders said.